![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arkansashomeschool.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/sonibreaststroke-300x209.jpg\" "\\"Rebecca")
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I know what you\u2019re thinking, \u201cBreaststroke!?\u00a0 Really, breaststroke!?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that the easiest stroke?\u201d\u00a0 Yes, it is a very simple stroke, but in competitive swimming it was extremely difficult for me.\u00a0 Even today when swimming laps I will be passing everyone on\u00a0freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly, but when I switch to breaststroke, suddenly I\u2019m the one being lapped.\u00a0 My body just refuses to work quickly and powerfully in that motion.<\/p>\n
In competitive swimming I began to get frustrated that I couldn\u2019t keep up with my teammates in such a simple stroke, but soon my coach started having me swim the long\u00a0<\/span>distance races.\u00a0 My practices then changed as well and instead of not measuring up in breaststroke, I began to excel in swimming a long way.\u00a0 I loved swimming distance.\u00a0 It made me feel strong and capable and gave me lots of time to sing in my head, \u201cjust keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Soon I was coaching swimming and began to pinpoint kids getting frustrated because they weren\u2019t good at breaststroke, or because they weren\u2019t as fast in another stroke, but as we began to tailor their workouts to their strengths you\u2019d see the joy come back. \u00a0I would remember those early swim practices where I just wanted to quit. \u00a0How often do we get focused on and bogged down by the things we\u2019re not as good at and just want to quit?\u00a0 We start to focus fully on our shortcomings and work so hard to try to overcome them we forget to flourish in what we\u2019re skilled at.<\/p>\n I could have spent my whole swimming career trying to excel in breaststroke, but it would have certainly been a very short one because I would have been so frustrated.\u00a0 In addition, since my body doesn\u2019t really work that way all the work would have probably been for nothing and I would have never discovered my skill in swimming distance.\u00a0 I learned as long as I\u2019m focused on what I\u2019m not good at, I can\u2019t find my true calling.<\/p>\n The lesson is that we were all created uniquely and with distinct talents, and the typical molds of society and schooling can greatly frustrate and restrain us.\u00a0 I know that\u2019s one of the things you love about home schooling.\u00a0 We get to help our children through these obstacles and when they begin to find that calling we then also get the opportunity to give them space and encouragement to go the distance.\u00a0 We get to tailor their lessons to be most beneficial to them, not only in what they\u2019re learning, but also in their personal lives.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lesson we can easily forget as we come across those things that are weaknesses, but remember what makes us great are the things that make us unique.<\/p>\n I know what you\u2019re thinking, \u201cBreaststroke!?\u00a0 Really, breaststroke!?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that the easiest stroke?\u201d\u00a0 Yes, it is a very simple stroke, but in competitive swimming it was extremely difficult for me.\u00a0 Even today when swimming laps I will be passing everyone on\u00a0freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly, but when I switch to breaststroke, suddenly I\u2019m the one being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansashomeschool.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansashomeschool.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansashomeschool.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansashomeschool.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansashomeschool.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/arkansashomeschool.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":879,"href":"https:\/\/arkansashomeschool.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875\/revisions\/879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansashomeschool.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansashomeschool.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansashomeschool.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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